That time a security guard at Evergreen Plaza gave me a whole new way to look at dead malls

I was taking photos of the old arcade at Evergreen Plaza last Saturday and this retired security guard named Dave came up and told me I was focusing on the wrong stuff. He said the real story isn't the empty stores but the cracks in the floor tiles and the weird stains on the ceiling where leaks happened. Now I'm trying to figure out what small details other people look for when they explore these places.

2 comments

2 Comments

rodriguez.cora10d ago

That guy Dave totally gets it. There's this whole world of forgotten stories in the tiny stuff nobody bothers to look at. Like, you'll see a weird pattern of stains on a ceiling and realize it's showing where a roof leaked for years before they finally patched it. Or those cracks in the floor that form a little river map from all the shopping carts and heavy foot traffic. It's the same way with old houses or even abandoned cars - the big stuff like missing windows is obvious but the real history is in the small, worn down details that tell you how people actually lived and worked there day to day.

valgibson10d agoMost Upvoted

Is it just me or do those worn spots on old wooden stairs actually tell you more about a family's habits than any photo album does, @rodriguez.cora?